Winter Dance
by Lafine
Summary: Their cold hands holding each other, gripping tightly while their body close to preserve the little warmth they had. Their feet sometimes stumbled in their steps on the snow field. They danced with the nature’s song under the night’s tapestry, oblivious t


Disclaimer: You know the drill

AN: Dedicated to ruby-dream

Winter Dance

By: Lafine

"This is sucks." Rosette grumbled.

Chrno looked up from his cup of hot chocolate to the agitated sister beside him. Pushing away the urge to sigh, he said for the nth times in the night, "I know."

"This is SUCKS." Rosette repeated, seemed to be miffed out by Chrno's bored tone.

He couldn't hold the sigh this time. "I know, Rosette. Just try to sleep. The morning comes faster that way."

Rosette threw a lethal glare to the violet-haired demon but he, used to it, only yawned and stretched his limbs before slumping again at his seat.

"Easy for you to say. Your body's small so you can have a lot of space in the car. I'll get cramp in the morning." Rosette mumbled grumpily. "Why do we have to exorcise a demon in a God forsaken mansion at Christmas Eve?!"

"Because you made Sister Kate angry again, Rosette." Yawning, he tried to beat the sandman with a figurative stick. "Thankfully the mansion didn't collapse when the demon you shot exploded."

"Chrnoo, are you trying to make me angry?" Threatened Rosette. Her mood was as bad as the blizzard outside their car. Her hand itched to do something, possibly to strangle the smart-ass demon beside her, while her stomach was participating in roaring contest with lion and tiger, and she was winning.

"Of course not, Rosette." Chrno's voice slurred to a stop when he finally surrendered to the sandman's grasp. "I'm just…"

Rosette sighed and took the cup he's been holding. She still wanted to rant about the injustice of the world but with Chrno fast asleep (and looking cute to boot), her want diminish slightly. Rearranging the brown blanket around the sleeping demon and herself, she wiped the fog from the window to assess the weather outside.

No good. Heaven was still maniacally pelting the earth with snow and the wind was howling like a bunch of wolves. The evening had been snowing lightly when they exited the mansion after exorcised the low level demon but it turned into a merciless snowstorm when she and her partner almost reached the main road outside the city.

Which brought them to the present. Rosette couldn't navigate the car, the snow reducing her peripheral sight to less than a meter in front of her. In fear of crashing into another car (and get another earful from Sister Kate) they decided to stop and wait until the harsh conditions subsided. They couldn't use the portable phone because there's no signal. Fortunately, they found a thick blanket and a thermos full of hot chocolate, courtesy of Azmaria, at the backseat. It was probably the only good thing in the night.

'_All the sister must be partying right now._' Rosette thought sullenly. '_Eating roasted chicken, pudding and cake while I'm starving myself to death here._'

Absentmindedly, she sipped the remnants of Chrno's chocolate, her own was already finished a while ago. The temperature in the car was slowly matching the outside and Rosette found herself cuddling Chrno like one would to her favorite teddy bear for his warmth. She blushed slightly when Chrno nuzzled her neck in response and blushed even harder when he sighed, his warm breath tickling her ear.

Deciding to follow Chrno's advice, she wrapped her arms around the smaller demon and leaned against the door. Letting out a yawn, she let herself fall victim to the sandman's grasp as well.

---

Chrno found himself blinking awake a few hours later. He blushed as red as his jacket when he realized that his face was resting on his contractor's chest. For the sake of her decency (and his poor head), he slowly unwound the arms hugging him close, regretting the loss of warmth while he did so.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself fully. Wiping the window, he wondered if the storm has let up. He could no longer hear the wind and the car wasn't shaking much. He opened the door, shivering when the cold wind gushed inside. He hurriedly went outside and closed the door so Rosette wouldn't be freezing.

There was only snow as far as he can see. The city's lights were far away, glimmering like jewelries in the dark night. Moonlight cast silvery light on the snow field, making everything looked ethereal. The green pine forest behind them was also turned into crystal ice haven, making Chrno wonder if he is dreaming.

"Wow." He breathed, rubbing his cold hands together to generate warmth. His breath was coming in white puffs in front of him. He walked a few steps away, creating knee-deep path from the car.

"Chrno?" A sleepy voice asked. "Whatcha doing out here?"

"Rosette, you wake up." He turned around, tucking his hands under his arms. "Look, the snowstorm stop."

Rosette grumbled something like "Know that." and "Losing a warm pillow." in which Chrno blushed slightly before she stepped out from the car. She immediately regretted it when she felt snow soaking her skirt and shoes. "Brr, how could you stand out here, Chrno? It's freezing."

Despite her whine, Rosette kept walking towards her partner. He looked happy and she didn't want to ruin it. Curiously she asked, "What are you so happy about? Mind telling me?"

"Well." Chrno started. "I just thought how different the snow on earth and in Pandemonium. In Pandemonium, it's always freezing even when it's not winter and the land was always felt empty even when there's a lot of demon. In here, everything was beautiful when it's snowing. I just like it."

A lump of said snow hit him on the face, effectively making him splutter in indignant at the grinning sister.

"What?" She asked innocently. "You said you like the snow."

"Doesn't mean you can go around hitting me with snowball." He protested, wiping the melting crystalline from his face. He scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at Rosette.

Expecting the attack, she dodged it easily; the airborne snow met its fate on the car's window. She grinned smugly. "Ha ha, you could never hit me, Chrno."

"Let's see about that."

And soon, a snow war began. Multiple balls of snow flied in the air, trying to hit their target. Both parties forgot the cold while playing around. Laughter and shrieks could be heard in between the sound of snow splashing around. It felt good to release the childish urge inside them. Not so long after, both stopped, laughing all the way. Snow was on their face, hair and clothes but they felt warm from the exercise.

It only stayed for a moment because another gust of cold wind wheezed by. Rosette shivered and trudged her way back to the car. "Come on, Chrno. I don't want any of us get sick."

Chrno agreed, feeling cold himself. However when a white and soft crystalline fell on his nose, he stopped. Looking upward, another set of fresh snow fell like white feathers, joining their friends on the earth. "Rosette look. It's snowing again."

Rosette mimicked Chrno's action, looking up to see the flurry new snow with apprehension, hoping it won't turn into another blizzard. If it did, Sister Kate and Minister Reminton would find two popsicles in the morning instead of their best exorcist.

"Hey, Rosette." She turned her gaze to her partner. "Let's dance."

Her brows furrowed at that. Did Chrno just ask her to dance? She put her palm on his forehead. _Nope, his temperature is normal_. So what exactly that made her partner asking her to dance out of blue?

"Come on, Rosette." He pulled her hand from his head and started leading them awkwardly for this was his second attempt on dancing. The first one was when he and Rosette trying to stomp each other feet in the festival. Rosette followed him obediently, if not a little confused, and already regretted for not doing what her mind suggest. Namely get back to the car and huddled in the warm blanket until winter is over. Hibernation looked like a good option in her mind.

_But this is nice._ She thought as she twirled around, Chrno was more confident in his steps. Dunno what Chrno's thinking about but playing and dancing like they did made her Christmas Eve less bleak than in a few hours ago. So she stopped thinking and decided to enjoy the rare moment.

Their cold hands holding each other, gripping tightly while their body close to preserve the little warmth they had. Their feet sometimes stumbled in their steps on the snow field. They danced with the nature's song under the night's tapestry, oblivious to their surrounding. The snow kept coming down, giving a beautiful effect of lighting if there's another person to see the dance.

Gazing into Chrno's ruby eyes, Rosette smiled.

He smiled back.

Their world was perfect until a loud ringing sound broke the stillness of the night. They immediately jerked away, blushing furiously like they had done something wrong. Running to the car, Rosette quickly pick up the phone, leaving Chrno to deal with his own pink face.

"Yes, hel…" All she managed to say before Sister Kate's voice blared through the receiver.

"Where are you two?!!" Sister Kate wouldn't confess it later but Rosette knew that she sounded almost in hysteric. "Snowstorm came. No phone call and when I called the mansion's master, he said you two already went back. Do you know how worried everyone?"

The lecture kept coming and Rosette had to put the receiver away from her ears, fearing her eardrums would burst at the high tone Sister Kate was using. Chrno watched her with _sorry-I-can't-help_ look when she glared at him. Her answers were cut short here and there as Sister Kate seemed determine to vent her anger and worry at the blonde sister.

After a full ten minutes, Rosette finally put the phone to its cradle and slumped against the seat, exhausted. Chrno walked closer to her, trying to pacify the scowling sister but all he get was a noogie on the head.

"That's for leaving me alone to endure Sister Kate's lecture." She huffed.

"What did she say?" He asked, rubbing his head pitifully.

"She said the party's over and she sent Minister Reminton to pick us. He would arrive in one or two hours." Rosette groaned, picking up the neglected blanket. "Man, I'm tired."

Chrno laughed weakly, having no response.

So they stopped talking, the silence encompassing them like thick blanket, leaving them alone with their thought.

"Hey, Chrno." Rosette looked up.

"Hm?"

"I forgot to say this." She smiled brilliantly, forgetting her earlier mood. "Merry Christmas. It's already passed twelve o'clock."

Chrno blinked before a smile spread out on his face too.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

Then they laughed again.

Minister Reminton found them two hours later, like Rosette said. He smiled amusedly when he found both of them huddled together under the brown blanket, sleeping like two babies. He shook his head at the other sister, still smiling, and telling them to let Rosette and Chrno slept longer.

Both holy maiden and the demon had a contented smile on their face.

End

AN: So um, you asked for a Christmas fic, so I tried making one. Hope you like this fic.

Omake

"HATSYIM."

"ACHOO.

"HATCHUU."

"AH-AHCHOO."

"HAPSYUN."

"Ha ha that's CHOO weird."

Sister Kate felt her nerve was in danger on bursting to existence as the other two kept sneezing in her office. She tapped her pen on the paper, waiting for an explanation but either Rosette or Chrno seemed unable to stringing a sentence together without any sneeze. After being sprayed by another sneeze, she finally had it. "Oh, just go to the infirmary before you two bring down the Magdale with flu!"

At the outside of the office, Reminton decided that maybe he should report later.


End file.
